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By Brian Nelson, CFA
On November 19, tech behemoth Nvidia (NVDA) reported better than expected third quarter results with both revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share exceeding the consensus forecasts. The company posted record revenue of $57 billion, up 62% from the same quarter a year ago, and record Data Center revenue of $51.2 billion, up 66% from the same period a year ago. Its non-GAAP gross margin was 73.6%, while non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.30. At the end of the quarter, Nvidia had $60.6 billion in cash and marketable securities and $8.5 billion in short- and long-term debt.
Management had the following to say about the results:
Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out. Compute demand keeps accelerating and compounding across training and inference — each growing exponentially. We’ve entered the virtuous cycle of AI. The AI ecosystem is scaling fast — with more new foundation model makers, more AI startups, across more industries, and in more countries. AI is going everywhere, doing everything, all at once.
In the first nine months of fiscal 2026, Nvidia returned $27 billion to shareholders in the form of share buybacks and cash dividends. At the end of the third quarter, Nvidia had $62.2 billion remaining under its share repurchase authorization. Looking to the fiscal fourth quarter, management is targeting revenue to be $65 billion, plus or minus 2% (versus $62 billion consensus), with non-GAAP gross margin of 75%, plus or minus 50 basis points. We think Nvidia is still in the early innings of an AI build cycle, and the firm remains a core idea in the Best Ideas Newsletter portfolio.
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Brian Nelson owns shares in SPY, SCHG, QQQ, QQQM, DIA, VOT, RSP, and IWM. Valuentum owns SPY, SCHG, QQQ, QQQM, VOO, and DIA. Brian Nelson’s household owns shares in HON, DIS, HAS, NKE, DIA, RSP, SCHG, QQQ, QQQM, and VOO. Some of the other securities written about in this article may be included in Valuentum’s simulated newsletter portfolios. Contact Valuentum for more information about its editorial policies.
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